


The Rescue of River Song

by Itsreallyallaboutperspective



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:22:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23074693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsreallyallaboutperspective/pseuds/Itsreallyallaboutperspective
Summary: After the Doctor is left in that prison cell, she has a lot of time to think. Her companions still think she's dead, and a sense of hopelessness is beginning to creep in. How will the Doctor find her way out of this scenario? When you least expect it, but always when you need it the most, there is a song.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 9
Kudos: 162





	The Rescue of River Song

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoy this first chapter of what I am sure will be a multi-chapter fic. I'm on spring break and decided to get creative. Let me know what you all think! I'd love to hear feedback on where you think this story is going or where you'd like this story to head. I haven't written in a long time, so we'll see how it goes, but I'm very excited to get back into creative writing.

**Sheffield 2020**

It’s been seven months and nine days since they last saw the Doctor. Each of them has attempted to move on with their lives. Yaz has thrown herself into her police work, but everything she does seems so mundane after travelling with the Doctor. House calls, vandalism, parking tickets, and the occasional robbery. Nothing near as exciting as exploring the universe. And nothing as enigmatic as the Doctor.

Ryan has gone back to his job at the factory to pay the bills while he studies for his NVQs. His relationship with his dad is still rocky but they’re getting there. Since he hasn’t been travelling, he’s actually been able to meet with his dad for coffee once a week or so and they’re relationship is slowly on the mends. Tibo’s doing better. He’s been going to the support group which makes Ryan proud. He’s happy to see that his friend is doing better. Being back home has made him realize how much of his life and relationships that he had to put on hold while travelling with the Doctor. That doesn’t mean that the ending of their last adventure didn’t haunt him though. Out of all the scenarios he could have imagined for ending their time together in the TARDIS, this was not one of them.

Since he’s got no job to get back to, Graham has taken up a new hobby. He gardens now. Some people might laugh at that, but to him, it’s calming – the complete opposite of travelling with the Doc. Him, Ryan, and Yaz still meet up and talk a couple times a week. They’ve tried to figure out a way back to the Doctor, but neither of them knows how to pilot a TARDIS. It’s frustrating to no end that they can’t do more. It’s hit Yaz the most. Graham and Ryan see how much she’s poured herself into her work, and they’re concerned about her. She was closest to the Doc – or as close as you can be to someone who never shares anything personal. All of them have seen her pull of the impossible before, and they were hoping that she could manage to do it again one last time. Graham tries to remain hopeful and optimistic that they’ll see the Doctor again, but as the months tick by, the likelihood of that happening seem slimmer and slimmer. Perhaps it’s time to accept that the Doctor is never coming back.

**The Doctor’s Prison Cell**

The Doctor etches another line into the wall of her cell. Day 1,594. She’s tried everything. Her sonic is no good because there are no doors, and even if there were a way out, she’s stuck on a floating asteroid in the middle of nowhere. She’s tried summoning her TARDIS, but there must be some sort of forcefield around this prison that prevent it from entering. She would’ve gone mad if it weren’t for the fact that she now has centuries of memories starting to slowly come back to her. She passes her days by losing herself in those memories. Relearning who she is and reliving those moments provide enough intellectual stimulation that she hasn’t completely lost it, but the loneliness is starting to get to her. For the first few hundred days, she would talk to herself just to remind herself that she’s still alive. But after awhile she lost her appetite for self-conversation. There was no one to share anything with. And nothing to be a distraction. Even though the memories kept her sane, they also tortured her by making her relive some of the most painful moments of her life. Being a scientific guinea pig. Losing lifetimes’ worth of memories. All these memories are brilliant reminders of how much she has lost and how much she is a stranger to herself. Sometimes she wishes that her brains would just stop. That she could finally be at rest. Even though she is trapped in a cell with nothing else to do, this is hardly what she would consider rest. Being trapped with nothing but her own thoughts is punishment alone. Being trapped away from her friends who consider her dead is torture. And there’s nothing she can do but hope that someone somewhere is looking for her.

**The Doctor’s TARDIS**

“Well, well, well, aren’t you a beauty? Love the new look by the way.”

_TARDIS BEEPS URGENTLY_

“Yes, I know! Now let’s get down do business. What trouble has your idiot pilot has gotten themselves into now?”

_TARDIS PLAYS FOOTAGE OF THE JUDOON SENTENCING THE DOCTOR_

“Huh. Alright then. Let’s find us a lost fugitive.” Swift hands glide over the controls, expertly piloting the TARDIS off future earth and into the time vortex.

**The Doctor’s Prison Cell**

Day 1,625. The Doctor’s gone back into her mind. She’s reliving some of her more recent memories. Memories which make her happy and remind her that she hasn’t always been alone. She sees old companions – Rose, Jack, Donna, Martha, Amy, Rory, River, Bill, and Clara. As she sits there with her legs crossed and eyes close, a sole tear rolls down her cheek. A feeling of emptiness and hopelessness starts to creep in. _What if she never sees her fam again? What if they die thinking that she’s dead? Has the Master survived? Is her TARDIS safe_? What if she can never escape? While this is hardly the most dire situation the Doctor has ever found herself in, as each day passes the likelihood of a rescue grows slimmer. The memories occupy her mind, yes, but they also remind her of how long she’s been alive. Even before she knew she was the timeless child, the Doctor had already lived for millennia. Being in the matrix reminded her of how old she is and how tired being alive can be. There’s always someone who needs help. Someone who needs saving. And the one time that the Doctor took a few seconds to rest, the Judoon captured her and sentenced her to life in prison. She wasn’t lying to Ruth when she said she was tired. The matrix may have contributed, but it also brought up some very real feelings. She’s old. She’s tired. For the first time in a long time, the Doctor has been forced to stop running, and now she knows why she had refused to stop for so long. Because given the chance to rest, all of that weariness can catch up to you like it has now. And when it does, the motivation to keep going becomes harder to find. So the Doctor accepts her tiredness and decides that for a moment, she will stop trying. She recedes back into her mind and loses herself in the happier times.

The Doctor doesn’t know how much time has passed, but she has moved on from memories. Now she’s imagining what it would be like if she were free. She thinks about adventures with her fam. Reminisces about reuniting with old companions like Jack. That’s how she finds herself in an imaginary conversation with her and her wife alone in the TARDIS.

_“So what do you think? She even has a custard cream pedal!” The Doctor exclaims._

_“Very nice, Sweetie, but you should still leave the driving to me. After all, can’t have you falling out of your own TARDIS again now can we?”_

_“That was one time! And it wasn’t my piloting that did that; I regenerated.”_

_“I digress.”_

The Doctor finds herself abruptly awoken from her fantasy as a bright light suddenly surrounds her and transports her into the unknown. Landing at a rather odd angle, the Doctor trips and falls to her knees. Slowly standing up, she looks around and finds herself standing in the console room of her TARDIS.

“Well don’t just stand there looking daft! Come over here and make yourself useful. I barely got close enough to get you out of that cell without the Judoon noticing, but they’ve certainly noticed now, and if you don’t want all of my hard work to be for nothing, you will help me get us out of here and fast.”

The Doctor whips her head around and looks for the source of that voice because it sounds like River, but it can’t be. Their time is over, and the Doctor has made peace with that (she tells herself). But as she turns around, she finds that it absolutely can be. Because there at the console is the mad woman she fell in love with. The Doctor thinks she must still be dreaming. And if she is dreaming, this is a dream she never wants to wake up from.


End file.
